BOX SET
FISCHER-Z
WORD PARADISE
UA AND LIBERTY RECORDINGS
Cherry Red
We all have those bands that we’ve heard of, heard a few tracks of and maybe even bought a single of but then they slip off your radar for reasons lost in the mists of time. I hold my hand up and say Fischer-Z were one such band for me so it was with mild curiosity, rather than manic enthusiasm, that I started listening to this set. I was barely half an album in when I realised that back in ’79 and into the 80’s, I’d missed out on something rather extraordinary.
There was no one quite like them and quite frankly, there still isn’t. Founded in 1976 by John Watts (v, g), and Steve Skolnik (k), they added David Graham (b) and Steve Liddle (d) and it is this quartet that is regarded as the classic line-up. They recorded the three albums contained in this set - sans Skolnik on the third album – before Watts called time on the band in 1981. Over the course of the next 45 years, Watts would pursue a solo career, form several other bands and also return to Fischer-Z occasionally albeit with different line-ups; he being the one constant factor throughout the band’s history.
Released in May 1979, barely anyone noticed Word Salad but one person who did was BBC Radio presenter John Peel who, it is fair to say, played the hell out of their debut single, ‘Remember Russia’. A second single ‘The Worker’ got the band onto Top of the Pops. Ears pricked up at Watts’ pained-choirboy voice and things started to take off in both their homeland and Europe. Listened to now, the album is still startlingly fresh, Mike Howlett’s production being clear and polished, a hint of what would make him one of the leading producers of the eighties. Just reading through the titles is itself intriguing. The writer (Watts) is obviously no ordinary lyricist and set to the often-quirky music, paint both vivid and surreal images in your head.
Going Deaf For A Living could easily have been recorded in the same sessions as Word Salad, such is the consistency of the production from first to second albums (Howlett was in the producer’s chair again and Richard Manwaring was the engineer throughout all three). It’s well known that second albums can be tricky but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Fischer-Z. Watts’ songwriting doesn’t falter from the first to last track and although the album is more reggae-influenced, the individual contributions are far more adventurous – Graham’s bass lines are a big step up from the previous record. As for Red Skies Over Paradise, Watts has taken over as producer so it lacks a bit of sparkle and Skolnik’s eerie keyboards are noticeably absent but it does retain the same high standard of writing both musically and lyrically.
Taken as a whole, this set is an essential part of anyone’s New Wave (for want of a better category) collection. Sheer class from beginning to end.
Track List
DISC ONE
Word Salad
1. Pretty Paracetamol
2. Acrobats
3. The Worker
4. Spiders
5. Remember Russia
6. The French Let Her
7. Lies
8. Wax Dolls
9. Headlines
10. Nice To Know
11. Billy And The Motorway Police
12. Lemmings
Bonus Tracks
13. Angry Brigade
14. High Wire Walker
15. First Impressions (German 7” Single)
16. Bigger Slice Now
17. Kitten Curry
DISC TWO
Going Deaf For A Living
1. Room Service
2. So Long
3. Crazy Girl
4. No aRight
5. Going Deaf For A Living
6. Pick Up / Slip Up
7. Crank
8. Haters
9. Four Minutes In Durham (With You)
10. Limbo
Bonus Tracks
11. Room Service
12. Hiding
13. Crazy Girl
14. So Long
15. Limbo
16. The Rat Man
DISC THREE
Red Skies Over Paradise
1. Berlin
2. Marliese
3. Red Skies Over Paradise
4. In England
5. You'll Never Find Brian Here
6. Battalions Of Strangers
7. Song And Dance Brigade
8. The Writer
9. Bathroom Scenario
10. Wristcutters Lullaby
11. Cruise Missiles
12. Luton To Lisbon
13. Multinationals Bite
Bonus Track
14. Right Hand Men
BOX SET
FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS
THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS
1963 - 1970
Cherry Red
Whether it is because they never had a UK No.1 or that they were not a pretty group or because of their zaniness onstage, Freddie and the Dreamers are more often than not overlooked as a significant band of the 1960s. Nevertheless, they did have six UK Top 10 hits, were part of the British Invasion, having four US Top 40 hits including a No.1 with 'I’m Tellin’ You Now'. They were also always a welcome addition to a UK package tour or TV show and as this set reveals, deserve a higher ranking musically than they have.
Signed to EMI, this box comprises all the singles and their five albums released on the Columbia label, along with Oliver in the Overworld which was released on EMI’s budget Starline label; in short, every EMI recording. By the time of the latter’s release, the band were close to the end of their career and is in fact a soundtrack album from a serial in a long-forgotten UK TV children’s television show called Little Big Time. The show featured the band and Freddie was his wacky self but the music on this album is very different. Closer to Prog than Pop with a linking narrative, this is it’s first outing on CD. For lovers of late sixties British music, this disc on its own makes the box set worth buying.
Going back to the beginning, until The Beatles came along, very few artists wrote their own songs, hence, Freddie and the Dreamers did a lot of covers – that may be another reason why they never really took off. To label the point, their first two albums which span disc 2, are entirely covers, the third being a medley/party album and their fourth, all Disney songs the sum of which make up disc 3. There were obviously songwriters in the band as many of the B-sides (all on disc 1) were Freddie Garrity’s own compositions; the rest of the band came up with material in later years. Those compositions do show potential but it seems like they were destined never to have their moment in the spotlight. All that said, the arrangements of the covers and compositions written for them, are flawlessly recorded and are of far better quality than others of that era. A large part of this can be attributed to John Burgess, their producer, who was one of the best during the sixties and seventies at capturing clarity.
Freddie Garrity, Derek Quinn, Roy Crewdson, Pete Birrell and Bernie Dwyer are not household names and most likely, never will be. In 1971, they all went their separate ways but together, for a decade, they were up there with Manchester’s other sixties greats, The Hollies and Herman’s Hermits. They deserve their place in music history and now, finally, with this box set, they have it.
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Track List
DISC ONE - Singles As & Bs 1963-1968
1. If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
2. Feel So Blue
3. I’m Tellin’ You Now
4. What Have I Done To You
5. You Were Made For Me
6. Send a Letter To Me
7. Over You
8. Come Back When You’re Ready
9. I Love You Baby
10. Don’t Make Me Cry
11. Just For You
12. Don’t Do That To Me
13. I Understand
14. I Will
15. A Little You
16. Things I’d Like To Say
17. Thou Shalt Not Steal
18. I Don’t Know
19. If You’ve Got a Minute, Baby
20. When I’m Home With You When I’m Home With You
21. Playboy
22. Some Day
23. Turn Around
24. Funny Over You
25. Hello, Hello, 1967)
26. All I Ever Want Is You
27. Brown and Porters (Meat Exporters) Lorry
28. Little Brown Eyes
29. Little Big Time
30. You Belong To Me
31. Gabardine Mac
32. It’s Great
DISC TWO - FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS (1963)
1. If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
2. Some Other Guy
3. Somebody Else’s Girl
4. Yes I Do
5. Zip a Dee Doo Dah
6. Drink This It’ll Make You Sleep
7. I Understand (version 1)
8. Sally Anne
9. I’m a Hog For You
10. The Wedding
11. Money (That’s What I Want)
12. Crying
13. He Got What He Wanted (But He Lost What He Had)
14. Kansas City
YOU WERE MAD FOR ME (1964)
15. Jailer Bring Me Water
16. It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
17. Tell Me When
18. Cut Across Shorty
19. I’ll Never Dance Again
20. What’d I Say
21. See You Later Alligator
22. Early in the Morning
23. I Think of You
24. Only You
25. Johnny B Goode
26. I Don’t Love You Anymore
27. Say It Isn’t True
28. Write Me a Letter
PLUS
29. The Viper
30. Kansas City
31. I’m a Hog For You
32. I Just Don't Understand
DISC THREE - SING-ALONG PARTY (1965)
1. You Were Made For Me/Tip Toe Through the Tulips/I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
2. Whispering/By the Light of the Silvery Moon/When You’re Smiling
3. For You/I’ll Be Your Sweetheart/If You Were the Only Girl in the World and I Was the Only Boy
4. Ma (He’s Making Eyes At Me)/ Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody/Ain’t We Got Fun
5. If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody/Over You/I’m Telling You Now
6. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby/I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now/She’s a Lassie from Lancashire
7. For Me and My Gal/Who’s Sorry Now
8. California Here I Come/I Only Have Eyes For You/I’m Just Wild About Harry
IN DISNEYLAND (1966)
9. The Ugly Bug Ball
10. When You Wish Upon a Star
11. When I See an Elephant Fly
12. Winnie the Pooh
13. Chim Chim Cheree
14. Heigh Ho
15. The Unbirthday Song
16. Siamese Cat Song
17. Whistle While You Work
18. Give a Little Whistle
19. Ballad of Dick Turpin
20. Supercalifragilistic expialidocius
PLUS
Songs From The Film "What A Crazy World" EP (1964)
21. Sally Ann
22. Camptown Races
23. Short Shorts
24. Lonely Boy
DISC FOUR - KING FREDDIE AND HIS DREAMING KNIGHTS (1967)
1. I Fell In Love With Your Picture
2. The Doll House Is Empty
3. Picture of You
4. The 59th Street Bridge Song
5. So Many Different Ways
6. Children
7. The Night Is Over
8. There’s Got to Be a Word
9. Juanita Banana
10. Sing C’est La Vie
11. Don’t Tell Me That
12. Is It Love
13. You’ve Got Me Going
14. Look For That Rainbow PLUS
15. What’s Cooking
16. How’s About Trying Your Luck With Me
17. Just For You
18. Silly Girl
19. Little Bitty Pretty One
20. In My Baby’s Arms
21. She Belongs To You
22. I Wonder Who the Lucky Guy Will Be
23. A Windmill in Old Amsterdam
24. Do The Freddie
25. A Love Like You
26. The Maybe Song (as The Dreamers)
27. The Long Road (as The Dreamers)
DISC FIVE - OLIVER IN THE OVERWORLD (1970)
1. I Wanna Go To the Overworld
2. How D’ya Do
3. The Overoad
4. You Can’t Go Wrong
5. It Can’t Be This
6. Day By Day
7. Harry the Heater
8. Gimme Dat Ding
9. The Undercog Song
10. I’ll Come Back and See You Again
PLUS
11. Little Red Donkey (as Freddie Garrity)
12. Get Around Downtown Girl
13. What To Do